Ladies, Wine &Design
Ladies, Wine &Design

Empowering women & non-binarycreatives around the world 💪

Ladies*, Wine** & Design is a global non-profit initiative with chapters in 250 cities worldwide. LW&D was started by Jessica Walsh after this happened and she realized that sometimes peers can be competitive or unsupportive of one another. Only a small percentage of creative directors are women or non-binary, and LW&D wants to help change this through mentorship circles, portfolio reviews, talks & creative meetups.

*Our space is inclusive of all women, non-binary, agender and gender non-conforming people. Self-definition is at the sole discretion of that individual. If you feel you could benefit from a space meant for people who do not identify as men to share ideas and collaborate, you are welcome. **Alcohol is entirely optional; you can drink tea, coffee or whatever you like!

September Events

September
LW&D Maringa

Sept 4th | “Beauty & beauty standards” Talk about beauty patterns and how they are influenced by the media. Chat with everyone about how to possibly break these patterns and propose ideas of how beauty can change.

September
LW&D Chennai

Sept 5th | “Chennai Launch” Come join the first Chennai chapter event of Ladies Wine and Design! This event along with forming this group is done to bring creative people in the community together.

September
LW&D San Francisco

Sept 3rd | “Book Club - First Tuesdays” Come join LW&D SF for the monthly book club! This book club meets on the first Tuesday of each month. Get to know the community and discuss interesting topics within the context of books.

September
LW&D Hannover

Sept 25th | “Yoga with Indra” Come join & let go with this creative community! Plan to enjoy some light yoga as a small relaxing course to relieve yourself from a stressful day. This event is for everyone from beginner all the way to advanced!

September
LW&D New Castle

Sept 4th | “Wine Uncovered” Discuss some ideas while treating the senses to a fun and informative evening of Italian wines and delicious cheese. The host will take everyone through the story of 7 different wines that can't be found anywhere else in the UK and the places behind them!

September
LW&D Coruna

Sept 5th | “Digital Content: The Art of Business” This event will be held with Monica Diaz-Ponte, an artist that focuses on ways to sell work. She is the founder of #digitaladdiction which specializes in content marketing for online content.

There are many reasons for the lack of diversity in leadership roles historically:

Sexism in the workplace
There are studies that show that companies are often consciously or unconsciously biased in favor of candidates who are men, which leads to more men being hired, getting raises, and receiving promotions. While this is changing, there is still a pay gap today between candidates who hold the same job titles. Women & non-binary people of all racial and ethnic groups earn less than white men, and studies show there is an even larger wage gap for people of color. If you’re in a leadership role, be cognizant of this bias and make sure raises and promotions are given out based on merit.

A lack of diversity in mentors or idols historically
Open a design history book, and you’ll see that almost all the famous designers mentioned are white men. The design industry used to be a boys club at the top, lacking diversity across both gender and race. With a lack of representation among their role models, underrepresented people can be deterred from pursuing creative positions. Thanks to the pioneering activists and feminists before us, this has been changing and many of our favorite designers working today are other women and non-binary creatives! But, there is still a lot of work to do. Intersectional feminism is imperative as we push for equality for all people in the creative field. We must adopt an intersectional lens as we battle discrimination in the creative industry. So, what does this mean? We must take into account people’s varying experiences, such as someone who is both a woman and a woman of color. In order to have equality and representation of all women and non-binary people in the creative field, we can champion and celebrate the successes of one another, offering guidance and mentorship to underrepresented creatives starting out in their careers. If you’re in the creative industry and can offer your mentorship or guidance, do contact us to get involved.

The responsibility of childbearing
Many people start families and have children around the age when they are furthering their education or entering the labor force. Historically, most cisgender men continued working and did not hold child-bearing responsibilities, leading to a gender imbalance in terms of career success. Many call this the “motherhood tax,” referring to the financial burdens and sacrifices involved in motherhood.

Trans and non-binary people in the workplace
Discrimination and prejudice against non-binary people is a form of sexism that happens in the workplace across all industries. This discrimination affects every aspect of both a person’s working and personal life. Studies show that nearly 60% of transgender people report having experienced employment discrimination, including being fired, denied a promotion or harassed. It is imperative that we make a conscious effort for equality of all people in the workplace, respecting and accepting everyone for who they are. Trans and non-binary people have the right to be able to live, dress and have their gender respected at work.

In studies, successful women and non-binary people are shown to receive more backlash compared to successful men. Root for one another and celebrate each other’s successes instead of tearing each other down. We can all help in various ways, big or small. Share your favorite designers on your social media, invite more underrepresented voices to your design conferences, make sure there is diversity in books on design, and so on.

Leadership at Companies

As a leader, make sure underrepresented creatives are considered for promotions, receive feedback to get to higher positions, and create action plans that help build leadership skills. Do not penalize or discredit people for needing work-life balance and flexibility.

Support Women & Non-Binary People in the Workplace

Be supportive of all people in your workspace. Use gender-neutral language in the workplace ask and use peoples correct pronouns. In addition, women and non-binary voices are often not heard or their ideas get lost in meetings. Make sure they have their physical spot in conversations, not getting elbowed out by others. If someone interrupts them, be direct and ask the interrupter to wait for their turn to speak. If you see someone’s ideas are immediately getting unfairly shut down, repeat, reference, and credit that idea over and over. This technique is called amplification and we owe this to Obama’s administration.

Mentor Women & Non-Binary Creatives

If you’ve found success as a creative, take the time to mentor others who are starting out in their careers.

Don’t Tolerate Sexism, Racism, or Homophobia

Do not normalize forms of sexism by accepting mansplaining, manterrupting, gaslighting or bropriating. If you see racist/sexist/homophobic behavior in public or at home, speak up against it. If you see this behavior online, you can report the behavior or language. To stop sexist and racist behavior, we must adopt a zero tolerance policy.

The act of explaining things in a condenscent way to a woman immediately assuming she does not have sufficient knowledge about a certain topic.

Manterrupting

Unnecessary interruption of a woman by a man, who assumes he needs to “educate” her. Then he explains obvious things to women as they are incapable of understanding it.

Gaslighting

It is the emotional violence of manipulating a woman making her question her own sanity or capacity. Do you know that guy who calls all women “crazy”? He is the personification of gaslighting.

Bropriating

It happens when a man appropriates of a woman’s idea and takes credit for it.

03.

Is there really still a pay gap between men and women? What is the pay gap for non-binary people and trans women?

Women earn less than men in 439 of 446 major U.S. occupations. The average for men is $55,835 and $43,845 for women. As designers, women earn 79% of their counterparts who are men, and this number is even lower for women of color. The most effective way to change the pay gap in the industry is hiring women and non-binary people, paying attention to their results and efforts, and rewarding them equally. It sounds simple, but we are not always aware of how much unconscious misogyny we might have. This means constantly questioning ourselves and making equality a central topic in our lives.

Studies show that after transitioning, transgender women’s earnings fall by nearly one-third. This finding echoes the lower value placed on women in the workplace. The trans and non-binary communities experience poverty at 4x the rate of the general population. Studies and conversations about the gender pay gap need to be more inclusive, rather than just about comparisons between cisgender men and women. Most corporations do not recognize people’s genders outside of male and female, and for this reason, there are very few studies on wage discrepancy for non-binary people, and this needs to change.

04.

Besides the pay gap, how does sexism present at the workplace?

Sexual harassment is still a major problem. 75% of those who experience sexism do not report it because of embarrassment or feeling like it could jeopardize a promotion or even lead to being fired. But even when they do report it, little is done. More than half of the official allegations of sexual harassments result in no charge. Motherhood also plays a big role in the industry, as women with children have less of a chance of being hired.

05.

I am not sexist / racist / homophobic? Or am I?

Most people won’t deliberately identify themselves as misogynistic, racist, or homophobic. However, there’s something called unconscious bias, which is the unconscious discrimination of certain groups of people: from race to religion to sexual orientation. This can manifest in different ways, whether it’s resisting to trust the choices of a woman or non-binary person or responding differently to a person of a different color than you. We can do this without consciously realizing it. It is our duty to stay open-minded to our own human defects, and continuously take a critical look at our own behaviors and privileges.

Examples of privileges include being white, cisgender, college educated, physically or mentally healthy, or financially stable. Why does this matter? Privilege can affect everything from how someone is treated in society on a daily basis to what basic human resources a person has access to. If you have privileges, you can use them to help fight for equality of more marginalized, less privileged people.

06.

What is intersectional feminism?

LW&D takes an intersectional approach to feminism, recognizing the complicated experiences of individuals based on the varying intersections of privilege and oppression. Feminism does not only champion the equality of white, cisgender, straight women. Feminism is inclusive of all people, championing equality for everyone — no matter their gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, age or ability. Watch this ted talk talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw for more context.

07.

Are the events free?

Our NYC-based events are free to allow access to all people regardless of financial backgrounds. Occasionally, some of our other chapters charge a small fee to cover the hard costs of their events (speakers, space, etc).

08.

How can I support or join Ladies, Wine & Design?

There are many ways you can support us!

Join Your Local Chapter

We have a map on our homepage — check it out to see if you have a local LWD chapter in your city. If you do, make sure to attend an event and ask the hosts if you can assist them in any way!

Start a Local Chapter

If your city doesn’t have a local chapter and you want to be a host, email us at info@ladieswinedesign.com and we’ll get you started!

Accessibility At All Events

At our NYC events, we make sure that all our venues are accessible, and we encourage all chapters to do the same! If you are hosting an event, make sure to use this checklist to make sure your event is accessible and that you have accessibility information listed for upcoming events

Sponsorships

If you have space you can offer up in your city for events or can provide free wine or food for one of our events, do contact us about sponsorships! We’re happy to give social media love in exchange for your support. Before now, we’ve taken no financial donations and this project has been entirely self-funded. Currently, &Walsh is the sole financial sponsor of LW&D, but we’ll be looking for additional sponsorship this year. We’d love a corporate sponsor to help with larger events to help us hire staff to keep the organization running. The organization will never be for-profit, this money will be used entirely on our events & staff. Email us at info@ladieswinedesign.com if you’d like to discuss sponsorships.

Follow Us

You can also follow us on Instagram and follow all the amazing creatives we feature. Championing other women and non-binary creatives is one of the best ways to support Ladies, Wine & Design, so one day we don’t need to exist.